A place of retreat for this mother of seven (currently fighting Stage IV Metastatic Breast Cancer) to speak on the joys and challenges of life for a Catholic family immersed in American culture.

Wednesday, May 10, 2006

Is She Catholic, Or What?

Bedtime at the Di Silvestri house.

Sleepy children nestle against their pillows, whispering "goodnight" and "I love you" as they close their sweet little eyes...

Oops, wrong house. Ours generally goes more like this:

Mom: "Time to get ready for bed, kids"

Kid 1: "But, maaaaaahhhmmm, how can it be bedtime? It isn't even dark yet, look outside"

Kid 2: "I'll race you!" (thundering up the stairs follows)

Kid 3: "No fair, he always wins!" (Sobs.)

Kid 4: "Can I fall asleep in your bed?"

Kid 1: (Calling loudly from bedroom) "Sorry, mom, I woke Tony up when I went in to get pajamas, and, really, I only poked him a tiny bit, just to see if he was really asleep. It wasn't my fault."

Kid 2: I threw my toothpaste away yesterday because the top was yucky and now I don't have any, what should I do?"

And on, and on, and on until finally, FINALLY, they are all processed and in bed. At this point I deserve a medal, or at least a good half hour of Tivo.

Tonight was worse than usual because Julia (who will be 3 soon) was in one of her rapidly-becoming-a-habit-and-must-be-stopped-immediately "No, I don't want to" moods. I could hear her and Lindsey (6) arguing as I went downstairs about the light in their room among other things. This was all within the normal bedtime noise level, so I let it go.

About 3 minutes later, Lindsey came running down the stairs, hysterically crying, saying she hurt Julia (which was evidenced by Julia's loud shrieks from above). This is not like Lindsey at all, who is generally the most agreeable member of our family, parents included.

The subsequent investigation netted the following information: Julia was out of bed, in Lindsey's space, insisting repeatedly that something untrue and ridiculous was indeed factual. Lindsey snapped and hit Julia in the face (more like a violent and misplaced push, from its description), causing Julia to bite her tongue.

We didn't have to say anything: Lindsey was positively wrecked over what she did. (Julia was fine, but milking it for all it was worth, bless her heart.) Between racking sobs, Lindsey choked out "I don't deserve to play with anyone ever again because of what I did!"

As I consoled her and assured her that even really good people do bad things sometimes, and that God forgives her, I was imagining her first reconciliation. It is going to be a doozy.